= !BluePrint: Plugins =
[[TOC]]

== Introduction ==
Plugins allow people to extend Sahana Eden without their code needing to be added to Trunk & yet keeping their Trunk install conmpletely clean.

This helps prevent merge conflicts between different deployment branches & hence reduces the risk of forking.

== Use-Cases ==
=== End-User ===
The End-User wishes to be able to browse a repository of plugins, viewing their names, descriptions & who maintains them. They wish to be able to click on a plugin to easily install them into their running instance of Eden.

=== Developer ===
The Developer wishes to be able to develop new functionality which extends a base Eden install without needing to have anything added to Trunk.

This functionality may include:
* Modules
 * Models
 * Controllers
* [DeveloperGuidelines/Templates Template]
 * Settings
 * Prepop
 * Controller Customizations
 * Parsers
* [DeveloperGuidelines/Themes Theme]
 * Views
 * CSS

== Design ==
* A plugin is a Web2Py application which acts as a co-app to the main Eden instance.
* The plugin will have standard files to identify itself to Eden:
 * Metadata (Name, Description, Maintainer)
 * Menu entries
 * List of Modules to be added to Auth UI
* The Eden instance can be configured with a list of plugins using {{{settings.plugins = ["plugin1", "plugin2"]}}}
 * This could be done in either models/000_config.py or a Template
 * Q: How can we download these from a URL if not found?
* S3Menu to be extended to read the settings & add additional menu entries found in those folders
 * Templates which don't use S3Menu will not support these, but that's seen as a bug in these templates

=== Future extensions ===

== Implementation ==
Once implemented the design will move here:
* DeveloperGuidelines/Plugins


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[BluePrint BluePrints]